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New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda will miss the entire 2012 season due to a right shoulder anterior labral tear.

Pineda will have surgery May 1, the Yankees announced Wednesday.

It is yet another turn in what has become the puzzling saga of the 23-year-old right-hander the Yankees acquired from Seattle in January in exchange for Jesus Montero, the most highly touted hitting prospect in their farm system.

Pineda was 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA for the weak-hitting Mariners in his rookie season, but his effectiveness fell off markedly in the second half of the season, when his ERA rose and his velocity declined after the All-Star break.

The Yankees had attributed his second-half decline to fatigue due to his workload -- Pineda threw 171 innings in 2011 -- but after showing up for spring training some 20 pounds overweight, he continued to have problems with his velocity. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his final preseason game, having allowed six runs and seven hits to the Phillies on March 30.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that it "looks like" Carl Crawford (elbow) will miss the next three months.
The Red Sox are expected to release a statement shortly, but it sounds like Crawford may require some sort of procedure on his ailing left elbow. It's a terrible blow for Boston, who will already be without Jacoby Ellsbury (shoulder) until at least June. Stay tuned.

Smart guy. Your team is $#@!ing reeling coming off a home sweep to the vaunted Mariners, then you do this...

Detroit Tigers left fielder Delmon Young has been arrested on a hate-crime harassment charge after police say he attacked a group of men and yelled anti-Semitic epithets.

Police say Young was standing outside of the Hilton New York, not far from Times Square. A group of about four Chicago tourists staying there were approached by a panhandler wearing a yarmulke. As the group walked up to the hotel doors, Young started yelling anti-Semitic epithets. Police say it's not clear who he was yelling at, but he got into a tussle with one of the Chicago group, who sustained scratches to his elbows.

Police were called, and Young was arrested at 4 a.m. local time at 54th Street and 6th Avenue. He was hospitalized at first because he was believed to be intoxicated.

Young faces a misdemeanor "aggravated harassment hate crime" charge and was being processed Friday, Cavitolo said, according to the Free Press.

Cavitolo said he did not know if the alleged victim of the harassment, which was said to have happened around 2:30 a.m. ET, was Jewish.

When asked to comment on the incident by the Free Press, Tigers spokesman Rick Thompson said: "We'll get back to you."

It was not clear whether Young would play Friday in the Tigers' 7:05 p.m. game against the Yankees. The Tigers were home Thursday afternoon, when Young went 0-for-3 with a walk in a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Young is hitting .242 with one home run and five RBIs, is signed to a one-year contract for $6,725,000 and can become a free agent after the season.

In 2006, Young was suspended for 50 games without pay by the International League for throwing a bat that hit a replacement umpire in the chest. Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 amateur draft, was ejected in the first inning after taking a called third strike. He lingered in the batter's box, walked away and then threw his bat end over end at the umpire, hitting him in the chest.

Young has played for the Tigers since last season after spending two seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He's the younger brother of former outfielder and first baseman Dmitri Young.

Wow, wonder which position he will play most? The DeRosa/Nady platoon in LF sure as $#@! hasn't worked.

The Nationals have some options as to where Harper fits with the big-league club. One thing isn't an option: He'll surely be playing everyday. But where is the question. With Michael Morse still on the shelf, left field is a bit of a hole. Center field -- where Rick Ankiel and Roger Bernadina have been covering -- has long been a hole the Nats wanted to fill, too. When Harper was demoted to the minors in spring training this season, the Nationals said it was so Harper could learn center field. But he's played 12 games in center, six in right and two in left.

watching cards-brewers on fox. buck and mccarver talking about how these days so many hitters are capable of hitting homers to the opposite field, here's a quote from mccarver:

it has not been proven, but i think, ultimately it will be proven that the air is thinner now, there have been climatic changes over the last 50 years in the world, and i think that's one of the reasons that balls are carrying much better now than i remember.